These are my insights about connections made through play. My game of choice is a a card game called Magic: the Gathering. It is what’s called a TCG or Trading Card Game. TCGs are card games in which the players choose which cards go into their card decks out of an available existing pool of cards. The premise of the game is a duel between two “magicians” who use spells to summon creatures and cast spells that reduce the opponent’s life total from 20 down to 0 before your own life total is reduced to zero. This game can be played in-person against 1 or more “real-life” players or in an online version (pictured above) with virtual representations of cards. There is quite a bit of math and resource management involved in the game play. There are also accompanying storylines that delve into the history of the characters and creatures. This 2015 article states that over 20 million people worldwide play the game.
I play Magic both online and in “real-life” (called “paper Magic” by the community). My enjoyment of the game is different depending on the mode. When online, I appreciate the immediacy of it: As soon as I sign on I can start a game almost immediately. When playing paper Magic it is more about camaraderie and a sense of shared interest. Paper Magic seems less competitive (at least in the circle I play in). When I was younger it was more important to win a game, but now I have learned to admire the ways that my opponent has defeated me. Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoy winning. 🙂
I approach playing Magic as a hobby and entertainment. Anyone who develops proficiency at the game must know the rules. Once you do it feels like being a member of any specialized community: you feel “in-the-know”. There are higher levels of competition, cash prizes for high-level events, and even a “hall of fame” for legendary players. Magic has its own vernacular that would make little sense to an outsider. There are online sites for strategy and teams that work together to determine which cards are the best ones to play in order to win. I have learned through years of playing to appreciate the randomness of shuffling cards and not knowing which one will be drawn from the top of the deck. That is a difficult lesson to learn for new players. I’ve determined (like in most games) that a player’s skill level is relative to the skill level of the people they play with. When another player does something novel or unexpected I try to remember and emulate that play if a similar situation arises for me.
When I play online there is a chat function so that players in the same game can talk to each other, but I find that many online players don’t use it or respond to it. I often wonder “Who am I playing against?” This is very different than sitting across from another player at a physical location. Playing paper Magic can be a social experiment in that it draws in a variety of people and in that players can have “tells”. These poker-like tells can give away information about the cards in a player’s hand. Trying to decipher them is part of the fun.
Paper magic can make friends out of complete strangers. As a manager of a gaming store it can also create repeat customers for my shop. When I play online it is more selfish; I can chat about my winning record to my Magic friends and I can win virtual product that I can use to play future online games for free. There are prizes for paper Magic tournaments as well, but more people who play paper Magic tend to open their prize packs instead of saving them to play with again in a future event.
The game I played for our class requirement this week was a virtual Magic tournament. It was played against a larger pool of opponents than a paper Magic event normally would be. My record was 7-1. I found myself comparing and contrasting the two ways I play Magic and thought about initiating chat conversation more so that my virtual play can be more social (more like paper Magic). It feels good to be part of a “club” and interact with others who have similar interests. In my teaching semester ahead I will try to engender this feeling of being part of a specialized group where discovery is encouraged and success is modeled.
Maybe I could create a “participation leader sheet” to encourage students to be active in class? If so, I must give some thought to also recognizing students who seek out interactions in which they can help fellow students.
Many of my students play Magic, I teach at the HS level. One of my students strongly believes that since I like Pokémon Go that I’d really like Magic. I disagree; I’m a curator, that’s why I like Pokémon Go (I only like to collect the Pokémon, I’ve never battled, I don’t even know how to, lol). Magic, Pokémon (card version) IMO have too many rules. If you were to integrate Magic into your classroom, be prepared for students who would not want to engage in the play. Maybe offer a creative way to participate like redesigning a card?
I did not intend to have my students play Magic, but I have been to stores where they keep track of which players play the most often or do the best as inspiration to others. I thought I might adapt this to classroom participation by creating a “leader board” to post in the classroom.